This invention relates to a microcontact pin device having micro contact pins integrated therein for use to test the operation of semiconductor integrated circuits prior to being packaged and packaged microminiature semiconductor integrated circuits, for example, and a method for manufacturing such microcontact pin device.
The conventional microcontact pin device which is designed to contact with a semiconductor integrated circuit for checking the operation of the semiconductor integrated circuit prior to being packaged has resembled a needle tip and been adapted for probing low velocity signals. Consequently, the conventional microcontact pin device of this type has been provided with no special consideration such as making the characteristic impedance uniform through the signal transmission lines.
This has led to troubles such as reflection and crosstalk when such microcontact pin device is used to transmit and receive high velocity signals to and from a semiconductor integrated circuit.
An example of the commercially available microcontact pin device having incorporated therein the concept of a signal transmission line designed for probing high velocity signals is the microwave prober sold by the Cascade Microwave Inc. It comprises a frame to which a first block carrying input microcontact pins and a second block carrying output microcontact pins are mounted and is designed for probing a pair of points on a semiconductor integrated circuit. However, this microwave prober requires a long time to test many spots on the semiconductor integrated circuit and is not capable of simultaneously testing the operations of a plurality of spots.
In the past, the multiple channel probing pin device for simultaneously probing many spots is known as per the Japanese Patent Laid Open Application No. 321170195 entitled xe2x80x9cProbe Assembly for Testing IC Circuitxe2x80x9d (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/247,874). This probe assembly comprises a layer of dielectric film having a resilient thin metal sheet formed on one side thereof and a multiplicity of metallic lead patterns formed in juxtaposition on the other side thereof, one end of each of the lead patterns on the same side thereof projecting about 0.76 mm beyond the adjacent side of the dielectric film layer to define a probe tip (contact pin). Although not specifically described, it is considered from the statement xe2x80x9cproviding a proper electrical impedance characteristic to the groundxe2x80x9d that the metal sheet and the multiplicity of metallic lead patterns may constitute microstrip transmission lines, respectively, so that it is presumed that it may be possible to make many pins simultaneously probe over a semiconductor integrated circuit with the characteristics of the high frequency transmission lines maintained.
However, with such integrated microcontact pin device, due to the fine pin pitch and the contact pins being extremely thin, the contact pins are likely to wear out relatively fast and yet unevenly over the individual pins from repeated use, so that it is required to replace the whole sheet on which the multiplicity of lead patterns including the contact pins are formed. In such event, since in the conventional integrated microcontact pin device as disclosed in the aforesaid Japanese Patent Laid Open Application, the sheet including the lead patterns is relatively large and relatively expensive, replacement of such expensive sheet will involve a considerably high cost.
In addition, the aforesaid integrated microcontact pin device is attended with the problem of occurrence of interference between the decodings of signals transmitted through adjacent lead patterns, that is, interference between the channels, because the lead patterns are close to each other with no barrier interposed therebetween.
Moreover, the contact pins are arrayed in one or two rows and arranged to probe the pads disposed along each side of the rectangular semiconductor integrated circuit.
It has been found that the integrated microcontact pin device for conducting a test on a packaged microminiature semiconductor integrated circuit is likewise attended with the problems similar to those discussed above.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a microcontact pin device which may be made inexpensively even if it has a fine pin pitch on the odder of 150 xcexcm, for example, and has a large number of pins, and a method for manufacturing such microcontact pin device.
Another object of this invention is to provide a microcontact pin device which may be replaced easily and yet at a relatively low cost with another one, and a method for manufacturing such microcontact pin device.
In the integrated microcontact pin device according to this invention, a terminal support has a plurality of high frequency transmission lines for termination (which will be referred to as xe2x80x9ctermination high frequency transmission linexe2x80x9d hereinafter) capable of transmitting direct current formed therethrough. Contact pins are connected at one ends to one ends of the corresponding termination high frequency transmission lines on one side surface of the terminal support.
According to another embodiment of this invention, a transmission line block is detachably attached to the terminal support on the other side surface of the support. The transmission line block has a plurality of high frequency transmission lines for relay (which will be referred to as xe2x80x9crelay high frequency transmission linexe2x80x9d hereinafter) arranged in an array. One ends of the relay high frequency transmission lines are arrayed at the same spacings between the termination high frequency transmission lines and are connected to the other ends of the corresponding termination high frequency transmission lines. The spacings between the relay high frequency transmission lines at their other ends are broadened to be larger than the spacings between the termination high frequency transmission lines.
According to still another embodiment of this invention, the terminal support is in the form of a plate, the termination high frequency transmission lines are two-dimensionally distributed, and the transmission line block is of a three-dimensionally gradually broadening configuration.
According to yet another embodiment of this invention, the relay high frequency transmission lines are shielded from each other in terms of high frequency.
According to yet another embodiment of this invention, the termination high frequency transmission lines are shielded from each other in terms of high frequency.
In another aspect, this invention provides a method for manufacturing an integrated microcontact pin device comprising:
preparing a terminal support having termination high frequency transmission lines capable of transmitting direct current formed therethrough;
arranging microcontact pins on a thin substrate and stacking a plurality of the substrates one on another in an oblique manner to form a build-up substrate assembly, each of the substrates having the microcontact pins arranged thereon;
connecting one ends of the microcontact pins of the build-up substrate assembly to one ends of the corresponding termination high frequency transmission lines; and
dissolving and removing the substrates of the build-up substrate assembly.